BLOG |
||
FEBRUARY 2010 |
||
February finally saw Horseshoe fully defrosted and anglers started trickling back after the inclement weather. Unfortunately the carp haven’t been playing ball and there are no catches to report, despite people’s best efforts. The pike anglers have been faring much better, with plenty of double-figure pike coming out of Summer Bay from the Trout Bank side, the best of these being a magnificent looking 19lb 15oz specimen caught by David Brown (you can’t get much more honest than 19lb 15oz!) Unfortunately this fish coughed up a few roach while it was in David’s landing net, which may just have pushed it over the magic 20lb mark. From my limited time down here, and what I’ve seen of the winter piking, you’d have to be crazy not to take up our new Winter Permit offer, more of which later. My apologies if this is sounding like a blog for the Pike Society. Hopefully next month will be full of big carp captures.
|
||
We’ve now had a change of head bailiff. Martin (Woody) who has been our head bailiff for four years has been shot by cupid and taken himself off to Portsmouth in his quest for love (bless him). We wish him the best of luck and he carries our thanks for all his work with him. Our new head bailiff is Gary King who has been a bailiff at Horseshoe for X years, as well as many more years’ bailiffing at other lakes. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience and we have every confidence in him ensuring the upkeep and progression of Horseshoe Lake. The more observant amongst you may have noticed the new permit options for Horseshoe. We are now offering a Summer Permit to run from 5 April to 31 October 2010 at a cost of £300 (that’s only £10 per week!), and a Winter Permit running from 1 November 2010 to 31 March 2011 at a cost of £200 (less than £10 per week). Of course we’ll still be offering our annual permit for Horseshoe, running from 16 June 2010 to 15 June 2011 at a reduced cost of £400. These options and costs reflect our appreciation of the current financial dilemma we are all facing, and trust that it will help you in some small way to carry on enjoying your fishing and continue with your support of the Carp Society. Please email milesc@thecarpsociety.com or ring me on 01367 253959 to request an application form. Renewal forms have now been sent to all Farriers Permit Holders and they have until 1700 (5.00pm) on Friday 14 May 2010 to take up the option of renewal. Any vacant places will then be filled by over-the-phone applications and payments from 0900 Monday 17 May. Please do not come to the office to apply. |
||
We are now in a position to offer fishing tuition at Horseshoe, having secured the services of a fully qualified CRB checked coach. The options are: 24hour session (9.00-9.00) tuition and bait = £175 We are also exploring the possibility of providing 3-hour tuition sessions aimed directly at fishing Horseshoe. These sessions will be every other Saturday morning with no more than four students at a time. More details to follow. And finally, just a reminder to all our younger carpers (12-16) that a few places are still available on our Junior Carp Camp. So, if you want to improve your fishing skills and put a few more carp on your mats, ring now for an application pack. Till next time |
||
PERMITS AND TICKETS FOR 2010 |
||
It's the time of year to be thinking about Permits, so we've decided on a couple of new options for Horseshoe Lake. We've had several requests for separate Summer and Winter Permits for Horseshoe, so we're going to offer them this year and review for next. Details can be found on the Permit Options page for Horseshoe For those of you already holding an annual permit that expires on 15 June 2010 and wishing to take up the summer Permit, you can purchase at a revised rate from 16 June until 31 October for £190.00 Farriers and Langholme |
||
JANUARY 2010 |
||
2009 was another good year for the Carp Society, culminating in a hugely successful Winter Carp Show at Sandown. Everyone looked to be having a good time and along with the great atmosphere, some fantastic deals were to be had. Feedback from the show indicates exhibitors recorded their best show ever and most of the BIG NAMES are already confirmed for this year’s event. A very big thank you to all concerned. Well done. Make a note in your diaries for 27 & 28 November 2010 and don’t miss out on what now must surely be a weekend every carp angler looks forward to. Nothing to report catch wise from early January, which is hardly surprising as Horseshoe was, along with most of the lakes in the country, frozen over from Christmas till the back end of January. The first fish of the year have been out though. New member Neil Hodge managed to land three carp to 24lb on his first visit to Horseshoe, in conditions that were far from ideal, a really good example of fishing to your own strengths and inclinations. Well done Neil. January 29 saw the start of our annual Pike and Predator weekend with Mick Brown and Mike “Hoss” Neate. The weekend was a great success with sixteen pike being landed up till the lake froze over again Saturday evening/Sunday morning. Mick did a slide show and talk on the Friday and Saturday evenings and superb food was provided by our very own Malcolm Coller. Dynamite Baits provided our anglers with a selection of frozen dead baits which we would like to thank them for, thank you very much for your support. We are definitely going to do our very best to get Mick and Mike to come back again, such was the whole ambience of the weekend. It would be rude not to repeat it! Although 2009 was a good year we are certainly not resting on our laurels and 2010 will see us continue to develop and grow. One way in which you, the member can help, is to set up a standing order with your bank to renew you membership annually. This would greatly reduce admin costs and bank charges for us and increase the funding we have to progress the Society and the lakes we run. Please give it some serious thought, it really is to everyone’s benefit. The Horseshoe Specialist Tackle Shop is now up and running and is well stocked with all the tackle you are likely to need, including a wide selection of items from Korda, Gardner, ESP to name just three. We are now also stockists of top quality bait from the excellent C C Moore Bait Company. Plans are under way for a possible 2010 late Autumn stocking of new fish for Horseshoe. This should happen if our budget income stream doesn’t suffer unexpected surprises. These fish will be the C3 & C4 strain from quality fish breeders Viv Shears & Simon Scott. These guys are amongst the top fish breeders in the land and the fish should ensure quality fishing at Horseshoe for years to come. These fish certainly won’t be your immediate target fish, but should you catch any of them please be sure to treat them with the same love and respect as you would any of the fish you catch. These are the next generation 30s and 40s and who knows even 50s, so look after them. At Langholme we may also have the opportunity of increasing the stock with some quality mature carp of mixed sizes, which should further improve an already successful water in time for the new season. We’ll post more on this as things develop. There are no immediate plans to add to the fish at Farriers. Farriers continues to go from strength to strength and has certainly developed into a top carp fishery so there doesn’t seem to be any point in disturbing the status quo (that doesn’t mean not waking up the 70’s rock band by the way) and judging by the number of people expressing interest to fish there, permits will be highly sought-after for the coming season. Miles Carter |
||
HAPPY NEW YEAR |
||
Happy New Year to you all! Not much happening bankside as many lakes including all of ours have been iced over for at least two weeks. Another -7° last night ensured Jack Frost continues to keep us all indoors! We are preparing for events during this year with the first being the Pike & Predator event late this month, ice permitting. Our popular Junior Carp Camp is open for applications and many forms have been posted out already. Don't miss out if you are in the age range. This year we have been approached by several big name companies looking to be associated with our event, so keep an eye on the site over the next few months. See our Event page for all details of all events. We've been involved in discussions with the Angling Trust board, alongside several influential angling personalities, including Martin Salter, MP for Reading. Let's hope that we can help to craft an effective representative body to lobby organisations such as the EA and Natural England on behalf of all anglers. |
||
BLOGS gone by - For previous notices click here |
||
| LAKE RECORDS at February 2010 | |
| Horseshoe | Chris Jarvis |
- | 46lb | ||
| Farriers | Tim Wagner |
- | 43lb | ||
| Langholme | Steve King |
12 July 2009 | 40lb 9oz | ||
 |
|||
 |
 |
|
|